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1. 
   sagesource Teacher
   High School - 12th Grade

   eNotes Editor

   Don Anselmo is a male leader in a society that is still very traditional. He has a highly paternal and protective attitude towards his extended family. He acts within a framework of understood custom and behavior that everyone around him understands and that he can bring outsiders to accept, even if they have difficulty comprehending it (such as his need to keep faith with the "owners" of the trees in the orchard, regardless of the letter of real estate law).

   Mrs. Higgins, like Don Anselmo, has a protective attitude towards those in her family and is willing to disregard the strict letter of the law in coming to their assistance. She uses charm to excuse her son's thievery and help him escape a deserved punishment. In a certain sense, this does accord with traditional custom, but since Mrs. Higgins is not able to act openly, her position is much weaker. As a woman in a society which is still male-dominated, she cannot simply act in an open fashion in the way Don Anselmo does. She must, for instance, conceal what she has done from her husband. The contradiction between her idea of duty and her inability to act openly, her need for concealment and constant subterfuge, leave her in a state of nervous tension, in contrast to the serenity that Don Anselmo is able to display.

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   Posted by sagesource on Wednesday June 10, 2009 at 3:46 PM
   
   

2. 
   babygirl2009 Student
   High School - 12th Grade

   where is the story The Gentleman of rio en medio?

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   Posted by babygirl2009 on Tuesday October 20, 2009 at 12:07 PM